THE MERCHANT ADVENTURERS    239
hand together we go stronger through the seas, are in less
fear of rovers and other dangers"; that "we are less in-
jurious to our common trade . . . inasmuch as now we
forestall not one another, nor bring down our common prices
by the precipitate haste of some few " ; that foreign buyers
enjoy the certainty of " knowing in due season when to
repair to our marts, and ... we know when to sell and
when to forbear selling, and thereby we keep our commodities
from being blown upon, either by having our warehouses too
full at some times or too empty at others " x. The regula-
tions relating to ' show days', credit, bills, etc., which were
mentioned above z, also served the same purpose of main-
taining ' order ' in trade and, incidentally, keeping prices at
a high level.
The keystone of the fabric was the system of ' mart* or th* ma*
' staple' towns. The Merchant Adventurers, as we havetotpn&*
seen3, restricted their trade beyond the seas to a single
market in each of the two countries, Holland and Germany,
comprised within their sphere of jurisdiction—in order, as
they said, ' to maintain the treaties * and ' to uphold the
esteem and price ' of their wares 4. Their privileged position
abroad manifestly depended upon the confinement of trade
to one or two chosen centres : it was the price which the
mart town, jealous of trade carried on elsewhere5, was willing
to pay to gain the lucrative monopoly of their traffic. More-
over the whole structure of a 'well ordered trade' would
have soon collapsed, if the trade had not been carried on under
the immediate inspection of the Company's officials. None
the less the system of mart towns was bitterly assailed by
the enemies of the Company, who demanded the right to
trade in any part of the country and to deal direct with
retailers. They wished to intercept the profits which passed
to the foreign merchants, by selling to retailers who were
now furnished * at the second or third hand '6. The contro-
versy between the Merchant Adventurers and the inter-
 *	Parker, Of a Free Trade (1648), 16-17.	* Supra, pp. 224-225,
1 Supra, p. 211.	* Veneris (1662), 34.
 *	Cf. the complaint of Emden : State Papers Foreign, 1579-1580, p. 103.
*	Veneris (1662), 33 ; A Discourse consisting of Motives for the Enlarge-
ment and Freedom of Trade (1645), 37.